Have you ever considered that business could be a powerful tool for mission and ministry? Gina’s guest today does because he’s ALWAYS thinking about this. As a seminary-trained pastor and church planter, Pat Dirkse, is using his catering company in Compton, CA as an intentional tool for not only making money for his family but also for providing jobs for those in his neighborhood and for making disciples. Pat and his wife, Julie, planted City Church in Compton over a decade ago, but Pat soon recognized that most of the pastors in Compton were bi-vocational, so he decided to do the same. Together with his love for people, desire to make disciples in his neighborhood, and his passion for culinary arts, Pat started City Catering which now employs several people from the community and feeds the homeless there on a weekly basis. Pat also now coaches others who desire to marry business with mission, and he’s here with Gina to tell his story.
See more about the mission of City Catering and the innovative space Pat and City Church are developing in Compton called “The Lab” at www.citycateringcpt.com
Find out more about 3DM at: https://www.3dmovements.com/
Missio Alliance Comment Policy
The Missio Alliance Writing Collectives exist as a ministry of writing to resource theological practitioners for mission. From our Leading Voices to our regular Writing Team and those invited to publish with us as Community Voices, we are creating a space for thoughtful engagement of critical issues and questions facing the North American Church in God’s mission. This sort of thoughtful engagement is something that we seek to engender not only in our publishing, but in conversations that unfold as a result in the comment section of our articles.
Unfortunately, because of the relational distance introduced by online communication, “thoughtful engagement” and “comment sections” seldom go hand in hand. At the same time, censorship of comments by those who disagree with points made by authors, whose anger or limited perspective taints their words, or who simply feel the need to express their own opinion on a topic without any meaningful engagement with the article or comment in question can mask an important window into the true state of Christian discourse. As such, Missio Alliance sets forth the following suggestions for those who wish to engage in conversation around our writing:
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If you disagree with something the an author said, consider framing your response as, “I hear you as saying _________. Am I understanding you correctly? If so, here’s why I disagree. _____________.
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One of our favorite tenants is that “an enemy is someone whose story we haven’t heard.” Very often disagreements and rants are the result of people talking past rather than to one another. Everyone’s perspective is intimately bound up with their own stories – their contexts and experiences. We encourage you to couch your comments in whatever aspect of your own story might help others understand where you are coming from.
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